Sunday, 7 May 2006

Chris Tilling points us to a new Aussie blog entitled Pentecostal Discussions, which is aiming to offer serious, contemporary theological discussion from a Pentecostal perspective.

I myself was brought up in a Pentecostal church environment here in Australia; unfortunately, in my experience this environment tended to be characterised by a lack both of social conscience and of theological insight—so it’s encouraging to see the emergence of a new generation of Pentecostal theologians who are concerned to think sharply about their faith.

Whatever we might think of Pentecostalism, those of us in mainline traditions can learn some valuable things from our enthusiastic brethren. So be sure to keep an eye on Pentecostal Discussions.

3 Comments:

My wife and I both come from a Pentecostal church environment here in Canada (we each did a ffour-year undergraduate degree in theology at a Pentecostal school) but have since moved to the Anglican Church of Canada. I had a similar experience to ours in that I consistently ran up against a neglect and implicit distrust of the social and intellectual dimensions of the faith. I do however still maintain a membership with the Society for Pentecostal Studies--it is an international group and is made up of scholars from accross the ecclesiastical spectrum.

It is indeed encouraging to see young Pentecostals who are willing to reflect theologically and to understand that Pentecostalism adds a unique and critical voice to the chorus that is Christian theology!

I come out of the Pentecostal world as well and am really excited to find more and more openness to real theological reflection. It is long overdue. I treasure my formative years in the Pentecostal world, I am not quite sure I would value prayer as much if it were not for those times. This might be one to add to my blogroll.

From the US, I'm happy to say I came from a Pentecostal background that encouraged Biblical scholarship and theology. I thought this was the norm, and in several denominations it is; but in many independent churches, it is not.